Millennium Tower is a 60-story, residential skyscraper in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, United States. Construction began in 2013 at the site of the former flagship store for

Filene's Filene's was an American department store chain founded in 1881 by William Filene. The historic Filene's Department Store in the Downtown Crossing district of Boston, Massachusetts housed the flagship store and headquarters, while branch store ...

Downtown Crossing Downtown Crossing is a shopping district within Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, located east of Boston Common, west of the Financial District, south of Government Center, and north of Chinatown and the old Combat Zone. It features la ...

and was completed in 2016. , it is the fifth tallest building in Boston. The building contains 442

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

s, a Roche Bros. grocery store and

Class A office space An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

. Limited occupancy by residents began in July 2016.

History

Initial plans, demolition, and project halt

Millennium Tower and the Burnham Building occupy the space of the former flagship Filene's store. When Filene's closed, the building was put up for sale and was bought by

Vornado Realty Trust Vornado Realty Trust is an American real estate investment trust formed in Maryland in 1982, with its primary office in New York City. The company invests in office buildings and street retail in Manhattan. History Two Guys The origins of the ...

of New York. Vornado teamed up with Gale International for a $700 million redevelopment of the Filene's site. As approved in August 2007, the site redevelopment project consisted of a 39-story tower including a 280-room hotel, a 125-seat restaurant, of office space, 166 residential condos, of retail space, and an adjacent park. It was originally scheduled for completion by 2011. In order to gut the historic Filene's building and demolish an adjacent building, the project required closing

Filene's Basement Filene's Basement, also called The Basement, was a Massachusetts-based chain of department stores which was owned by Retail Ventures, Inc. until April 2009 when it was sold to Syms. Founded in 1909 and one of the oldest off-price retailers in ...

and the loss of 218 retail jobs. In Summer of 2008, the developers halted the project, citing the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. As of the halt, demolition was nearly complete, leaving the Burnham building gutted and a large excavation where the non-landmarked parts of the former Filenes complex (built in the 1950s–1970s) had stood. The side of the Burnham building that was exposed by the nearby demolition was temporarily covered with a tarp. After two years of inactivity, the City of Boston revoked the developer's permits in November 2010.

Ownership change and construction start

In 2012, Millennium Partners took over the task and won approval for a 625-foot tower with 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m²) of commercial and residential space in two buildings. On April 13, 2013, major tenant

Arnold Worldwide Arnold Worldwide is an American advertising agency headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The agency is a part of the Havas Creative Group, a global advertising holding company based in France. Some of Arnold’s clients include Progressive Insu ...

was signed to occupy a large part of the new building. With the agreement in place, construction resumed. The building officially broke ground on September 17, 2013 with mayor

Thomas M. Menino Thomas Michael Menino (December 27, 1942 – October 30, 2014) was an American politician Mayoralty of Thomas Menino, who served as the List of mayors of Boston, Massachusetts, mayor of Boston, from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving ...

in attendance. On April 26, 2014, 600 trucks poured of concrete into a slab for the new building, making it the largest pour in the city's history.

Recent developments and tenants

Tenants, as of 2021, include

Roche Bros Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Inc. is a chain of supermarkets based in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The company's stores are primarily located in the Boston Metro Area. Roche Bros. also operates the supermarket chain Sudbury Farms. A third banner, ...

supermarket. According to an August 2016 article in the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', luxury condos have been purchased by local residents as well buyers from

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. A Millennium executive estimated at the time that 75% of the owners will be living in their units in Downtown Crossing.

Gallery

File:Millennium Tower site pre construction.jpg, The site before construction started in April, 2013. This is looking towards the 1911 built Burnham Building. File:Millennium Tower construction, 2 May 2014.jpg, The Millennium Tower on May 2, 2014, with

(Burnham Building) on the right File:Millennium Tower construction, 29 May 2014.jpg, Construction of the Millennium Tower in late May 2014, almost at street level File:Millennium Tower construction, 18 August 2014.jpg, The tower in mid-August 2014. The first floor has been added, with the second on its way. File:Millennium Tower in December 2014.jpg, The tower on December 22, 2014 showing the first of the glass paneling. File:Millennium Tower Under Construction.jpg, Construction in September 2015 showing concrete skeleton and curtain wall going up. File:Millennium Tower on April 8th, 2016.jpg, Millennium Tower on April 8, 2016. Cladding is almost complete. File:Millennium Tower, Boston, Massachusetts.jpg, Millenium Tower looking south on Washington Street in September 2024.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Financial District, Boston Residential skyscrapers in Boston Residential buildings completed in 2016 Residential skyscrapers in Massachusetts